While tech companies call for spying reform, telcos silent

On Monday, eight
of the world's leading technology companies set aside their rivalries to issue
a direct challenge to U.S. lawmakers: lead the world by example and fix
America's broken surveillance state. Although the tech companies' statement
sends a powerful message, notably absent from the letter's signatories is the
appearance of a single telecommunications company, or telco.

In the open letter published on
the Internet and in full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere, tech giants
Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, and LinkedIn charged
that governments have gone beyond what is necessary to protect their citizens,
characterizing current surveillance paradigms as profoundly flawed. "The
balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away
from the rights of the individual -- rights that are enshrined in our
Constitution," the letter reads. "This undermines the freedoms we all
cherish. It's time for a change."

Stressing the
"urgent need" for worldwide reform, the letter calls upon President
Barack Obama and Congress "to take the lead and make reforms that ensure
that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate
to the risks, transparent, and subject to independent oversight."

It is a heartening development
in a grim story that seemed to be descending into farce. Recent revelations
include all of the following: a surveillance program targeting online
fantasy role-playing games -- leading to what is no doubt the first use of the
phrase, "an elf might be an agent," on the front
page of a major newspaper; efforts to catalog the
pornography-surfing habits of individuals with unpopular views for later
exploitation; and repeated attempts to thwart Tor, the anti-censorship
tool beloved by the U.S.
State Department, through a program codenamed, "EgotisticalGiraffe." A previous
disclosure indicated that the National Security Agency specifically
targeted the news organization Al-Jazeerafor attack. And in addition to these official programs,
NSA analysts also are reported to have engaged in misconduct that includes the
unlawful surveillance of personal love interests.

Because of these and other
abuses, the tech companies have put forth a strong set of proposed principles
that call for the complete end to bulk collection of Internet data by spy
agencies, significant improvements in transparency around surveillance
practices, and -- in a message seemingly intended
for Europe and Brazil -- a warning to countries not to mandate local
control of Internet infrastructure, which could fracture the Internet into an
unrecognizable "Splinternet" of
disparate, disconnected, local networks.

In short, whether
driven by economic self-interest, civic virtue or both, these tech companies
have taken a courageous step in the right direction. They should be commended
for it. For its part, civil society must ensure that they follow through.

But what of the telcos? On the
one hand, their reticence should not be surprising: historically, many
providers of communications infrastructure were state-owned, a good number
still are, and those that are not are still subject to significant government
regulation. Additionally, telcos have a long history of assisting security
services -- whether by coercionfor money, or for other
reasons.

Given this close relationship
between the telcos and nation-states, and the great expense of infrastructures
that put practical limits on competition, telcos have often enjoyed some insulation from accountability. But the future
promises to be a different world. Telcos are beginning to find themselves in
direct competition with technology companies -- and even individual app-makers
-- whose operations are arguably more flexible in the face of market and
technological change. Additionally, the newer companies are not burdened by the
kind of baggage that comes with decades of cooperation with spy agencies. In
this sense, tech companies have an advantage: as communications systems
become even more
decentralized, further supplanting the role of large communications
providers, user privacy may play a key factor in what services consumers choose
to employ.

"People won't
use technology they don't trust," says Brad Smith, Microsoft's general
counsel, in a statement accompanying the tech companies' letter to U.S.
lawmakers. "Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need
to help restore it."

Some of the largest tech
companies in the world are now using their reputations and resources to make up
for this trust deficit, and to correct the balance between freedom and
security. Telcos should, too -- through increased participation in the Global Network Initiative (GNI), a
voluntary, multi-stakeholder technology and human rights coalition that
includes such members as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!; observer
company LinkedIn, and others. Additionally, the telcos should follow the
example set by Monday's letter by taking positive steps of their own accord. A
number of telcos have shown a willingness to do so through engagement in a
separate Telecommunications Industry Dialogue on Freedom
of Expression and Privacy that formed in 2011, and dialogue participants committed to a
two-year collaboration with the GNI earlier this year. However, many of the
biggest telcos have thus far declined to join the Dialogue, which features only
one American company, and at present no telco is a member of the GNI.

As GNI Executive Director Susan
Morgan said in connection with a transparency report GNI
published earlier this summer, "It's time for telecommunications companies
to demonstrate their commitments to the rights of their users wherever they
operate."

The alternative
may well be a dropped connection to their customers.

UPDATE: The eighth paragraph of this
post has been updated to emphasize an example of preferential governmental
treatment for telcos accused of spying.

San Francisco-based CPJ Technology Program Coordinator Geoffrey King works to protect the digital rights of journalists worldwide. A constitutional lawyer by training, King also teaches courses on digital privacy law, as well as the intersection of media and social change, both at UC Berkeley. Follow him on Twitter at @CPJTechnology. His public key fingerprint is 4749 357C E686 71B1 4C60 F149 9338 5A57 27FA 494C.

Comments

Reform will not come without considered legislation, as the laws have been owned by the controllers of "justice". Our privacy is a personal matter of public and private purview; who should sit upon the alter of righteousness besides the Children of This Great Planet? I challenge the technical capacity of humanity to surpass what benefits of what good parenting provide. Breeders of technology should not be trusted to control what media is fed to the masses. Let our Children go... we want a positive life experience!

The US will never change as it fears its own power and too afraid that others will catch up with it. Its a foregone conclusion that American tech companies will ever claim back its once glorified position, the world just won't believe that they are still not working hand in hand with the US government and the recent statements of independence are for show only. Will they support Snowden who let the world know the real US?? Compare this to the Chinese tech companies which are enjoying solid reputation worldwide even before revealation by Snowden.